In many living environments beds take up an inordinate amount of space. Students in dormitory rooms often use "lofts" or "loft beds" constructed of lumber, in order to take better advantage of the vertical space in the room. Typically, the sleeping platform is put high enough that a desk and desk chair and/or another piece of furniture can be put under it and used. Tradeoffs are necessary, however. If the sleeping platform is fixed too high, the head, elbows, or knuckles of the user are likely to come into inadvertent contact with the ceiling during normal sleeping movements and/or getting into or out of the bed, thereby causing discomfort or even injury. Also, climbing onto a high sleeping platform of a loft bed can be difficult, and descending from it can be dangerous, particularly in the dark, during emergencies, when the user is not sufficiently awake to exercise appropriate caution, or when the user cannot see the means used to step up to the platform. On the other hand, if the sleeping platform is fixed at a lower position, then during the day access to the desk or other furniture beneath it, which would require crouching even if the platform were fixed at a high position as previously mentioned, is further impeded.
Murphy beds, sofa beds, press beds and the like require considerable time and effort to be moved back and forth between the sleeping position and the stored position, which movement to the stored position entails the further disadvantage of having to remove the bedding (sheets, pillows, blankets, etc.) or at least arrange it precisely or secure it. Also, when such beds are in the stored position they take up space which otherwise would be usable. Other prior art beds need to be recessed in, attached to, or supported by the ceiling or walls of a room and thereby dictate the configuration and dimensions of the room, as well as the locations of the room's windows and doors; these beds are often rather large and as a practical matter are permanent fixtures in the room in which they are installed.